


haunted memories (memories, memories, memories)

by Phoenix_Allura (Artemis_Autumn_Marie)



Series: Nix's Whumptober 2019 [13]
Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Haunted Houses, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Death Cure, also gally is nice in this fic cause i said so, post-scorch trials, thomas and minho are soft and i love them, thominho - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22448956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Autumn_Marie/pseuds/Phoenix_Allura
Summary: Whumptober Day 13: AdrenalineThomas thinks he can make it through this haunted house. He'll have Minho and Gally, and they'll be fine.
Relationships: Gally & Minho (Maze Runner), Gally & Thomas (Maze Runner), Minho/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Series: Nix's Whumptober 2019 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1507226
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	haunted memories (memories, memories, memories)

Thomas has no idea why he's letting Gally drag him to this thing.

He hates haunted houses.

Not as much as haunted corn mazes or escape rooms. (They'd all gone to each once, as a group, but the resulting panic attacks and breakdowns assure that they are never going again.)

"Minho is meeting us there, Thomas," Gally says. "He's gone through it before. If you don't want to, you can wait at the end for us." Thomas swallows. It can't be that bad, right?

Gally and Minho say it'll be okay, and Minho wouldn't joke about this--he's shaken him awake from more than one nightmare, and Gally has taken a liking to him, now that they're out of the Maze.

(He might be trying to make up for the whole 'trying to kill you' thing.)

"Thomas, talk to me." Gally's gripping his shoulders. "Are you good, shank?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I can do this, Gally." Gally's face says plainly that he doesn't believe him, but Thomas can do this.

He has to.

“Thomas.”

“I can, Gally. Trust me.” They keep walking.

“Are you ever going to live with your parents?” Gally asks.

“Maybe.” Thomas shrugs. “But they keep expecting an excited, happy, kid.”

“One who talks and smiles and makes jokes?”

“Yeah.” Thomas can’t get their faces out of his head; he looks just like his mother. “And your parents don’t seem to mind.”

“Yeah, but they had three kids by the time I came along; they’ve had practice. Your parents just had you and your sister.” That had been a shock, finding out that Teresa was sister--older by three years. That he was really much closer to fifteen than sixteen.

His parents hadn’t gotten to raise either of them, and only one had returned.

(He isn't even whole.)

Plus, his parents expect him to get into college early, like they did, and to follow in their footsteps, when he doesn't even know he is in this world.

"Are you going to school this year?" Gally is trying to get him to stop thinking.

"I'm online for everything. I took placement tests for five different schools and blew through them all."

"Are you taking all AP classes?"

"I tested out of everything else. I have enough credits to have a GED by the end of the semester." They were all way ahead, now that they had their memories back, and no one really knew what to do with them. It's just a little farther, but Minho sees them first. He waves them into line with him, kissing Thomas gently.

That's another thing Thomas disagrees with his parents on. They think Thomas shouldn't be dating a seventeen-year-old. They don't care that they started dating under the assumption that Thomas was sixteen.

(They don’t know, don’t understand, what the Maze, what the Scorch, what those final trials, what everything has done to them. They will never understand. Understand that most days Thomas feels like he could be a hundred, that he always, always thinks he’s sixteen before he thinks fifteen.

After everything he’s been through, he feels like the extra year is his for the taking.)

Thomas tugs his hand out of Minho’s and wraps his arm around his waist, catching his other hand instead. Minho chuckles and does the same, settling their laced fingers high on Thomas’s hip. Thomas leans his head on Minho’s shoulder.

“Well, look at the little couple and their friend, all ready for a tour.” The guide says. “Come on in, boys. Please, no cameras, no punching. Scream all you like.” The house, of course, is dark. At first, it isn’t so bad, but then the guide turns and gives a too-toothy smile.

“You’re on your own, now. Try not to die.” Minho squeezes Thomas’s hand, and Gally presses closer.

It’s a little too much like the attitude of the Creators.

The house darkens even more, only faint movements in the shadows letting them know they aren’t alone.

That isn’t so bad, but Thomas knows Minho can feel his heartbeat trying to escape his wrist.

_ Screek. Slish. Screek, slish. Screekslish. Screekslish, screekslish, screekslish, screekslishscreekslishsreeckslishscreekslish, screekslish, screekslish, screek slish, screek slish, screek. Slish. Screek. Slish. Slish. Slish. Screek. _

Every time they take a step, the noise came, closer, closer, closer. Thomas can feel someone breathing down his neck, but he knows it’s only Gally so it’s okay.

It’s all fake, he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be fine. They walk around the corner, not quickly, but not slowly, either, and it starts again.

_ Scrreeeek. Scrreeeek. Scrreeeek. Scrreeeekscrreeeek. Slish. Slish. Slish. Slishslishslish. Scrreeeek. Slish. Scrreeeek, slissssh. Scrreeeekslisssh. _

It sounds too much… too much… too much like… like… like a Griever.

Gally’s running.

Thomas knows that, distantly, that Gally’s running and that’s he’s far ahead of them and that the noise that won’t just stop and that his heart is beating so fast because that’s the game, it’s supposed to do that but it sounds like a Griever and Gally’s running and now he’s screaming and the thing  (not a griever not a griever not a griever  _ not a griever notnotnot) _ is right behind Thomas and Minho and they’re running now too and it’s too much, too much, and Thomas is going to fall but he can’t because then, then Minho would fall and then they’re both in trouble.

And he knows that, he knows it’s all true but emotions can’t be logiced into place and he can’t escape this tightness in his chest and his pounding heart no matter what his brain says.

The noise stops.

They’re out of that hallway.

“Have fun, Gally? You were running a little fast,” Minho teases, goodnaturedly, and Gally shakes his head.

“Sounded a little like a Griever, scared me into sprinting.”

“Yeah, it didn’t sound like that last time I came through. Thomas, you’re shaking, you good?” Now they’re both focusing on him, no, no, nonono, don’t.

“Gally’s right, it did sound like a Griever. Just an adrenaline rush, don’t worry.” They don’t believe him, but they can’t leave now, they’re only halfway through.

“Thomas, if you’re having a panic attack, they’ll stop, you know that, right? Are you?” There are actors here, he knows, listening, but he shakes his head anyway and hates the way his voice trembles when he speaks again.

“I’m fine, Minho.” He can the whispers in the shadows; they’re going to take it easy on them.

Thomas doesn’t protest.

The noise doesn’t come back; the rest of the haunted house is simple: Masked jumpscares, guys with a chainsaw, bodies hanging on the wall.

(Thomas sees Alby, hanging in the ivy, but he’s cold and dead and rotting instead of living, breathing, savable, at least for that day.)

(He almost throws up.)

But the next time his heart races, it’s from the crazed laughter coming from the guy chasing them with a machete, not the beginnings of a panic attack.

They make it out.

(Just like always.)

(At least this time they don’t leave anyone behind.)

“I’ll walk you home.” Minho tugs Thomas in by his hip. “And then we can talk.” Thomas nods. He’s not getting out of this.

It’s better that he doesn’t.

“We’re safe, Thomas. We’re safe.” Gally runs ahead and buys them all ice cream, and Minho doesn’t let go of Thomas even when his cone drips all over his hand, and Thomas knows they will never do this again, never do haunted houses again, not like this, but there will be more scares and ice cream and a feeling of being cared for, loved, safe tucked into Minho’s side with Gally walking backward in front of them, making stupid jokes.

And for one moment, he’s glad they did it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone!  
> I know, I'm posting more whumptober fics in a time period that isn't a month after the last one. Great, isn't it?  
> Tell me what you thought! Comments are my lifeblood, and kudos are great. (psst. I can't interact with you if you don't comment. even if you just keysmash I will understand. I've been there.)  
> As always,  
> Nix


End file.
